I need to open by saying that—except for this book—I have no experience with reading futurist literature. I'm a bit of a Luddite and prefer my fiction looking backward and not into the future, which seems all to perilous these days. But the description of this book sounded interesting—and two of its settings are locations I'm particularly fond of: The Huntington Gallery/Library/Botanical Gardens and the Monterey Bay Aquarium/Monterey Bay submarine canyon. So, I gave The Ephemera Collector a go, and I'm glad I did.

I was conscious the entire time of being in a "foreign" genre, but I could follow enough of the plot to realize that it's engaging on multiple levels. Did I understand all the techno-speak? No, but I never felt I was completely at a loss.

Xandria Brown, the ephemera collector of the title, is employed at the Huntington and is in charge of assembling a "Diwata Collection," Diwata being the name of an undersea community, designed based on principles of Restorative Art and Archtecture. Many of the wealthy have left Earth for colonies on Mars. The residents of Diwata are Black and come from communities historically subjected to red-lining and similar policies that deliberately denied stability and possibilities for economic progress. There's a Green Revolution Movement that objects to both the Mars colonies and Diwata, viewing their use of these ecosystems as a form of colonization.

Xandria has been disabled in multiple ways—particularly neurologically—as a result of long COVID. She's able to do her work as a curator with assistive AI, a group of specialized bots tracking her physiological status and her frequent loss of memory.

The story opens with a terrorist attack on a meeting at the Huntington. One of Xandria's bots preemptively locks her into her work space; another is trying to map an escape route for her. This thread runs throughout the novel, but the timeline also moves into the past (which for readers is still the future, just a nearer future). A director is kidnapped and dies. There's some suggestion that Xandria may either be connected to this operation or set up to appear that way.

Three things made this novel powerful for me, even in my moments of confusion/uncertainty. First, the complex development of characters and their relationships to one another. Second, the way the plot essentially is one possible outcome of the world we are living in now. Third, that it isn't just futurist, but Afro-Futurist in all its aspects historical, current, and future. So. Much. To. Think. About. And I enjoyed that thinking, even when the ideas it led to were disconcerting.

If you like futurist literature, I think you'll find The Ephemera Collector a must-read. Even if you're completely new to futurist literature there's more than enough here to keep you engaged. Trust me.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

I tried to read this like 4 separate times (digital and audio!) and could never make it past 25%.

I was SO excited about The Ephemera Collector - marketed as a queer afrofuturist sci-fi about an archivist specializing in conserving african-american ephemera.

I'm not saying it's not this (especially because I did not finish the entire book), but what I will say is that it was boring!

One of the main parts of this story is that the MC is suffering from long-COVID and because of that has some very significant memory issues. This is just personal preference, but I strongly dislike it when a main character has amnesia or loss of memory and we are stuck in their POV. It feels like a lazy way to introduce mystery/intrigue into the story but really it just leaves me frustrated instead. I know that is the point - but it makes it really difficult for me to want to proceed reading from that POV. Because of this, so much of the first quarter is disorienting and I was trying to find my footing and understand what was going on more than I was immersing myself into the characters and the world.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review

The Ephemera Collector announces Stacy Nathaniel Jackson as a singular new voice in fiction. This should make difference in your thinking about Stacy.

3.5/5 stars ⋆｡°✩

I think the first line of the summary describes this novel perfectly: "In this epic Afrofuturist debut, an archivist finds herself the target of a violent plot and must rely on the help of her AI assistive technologies." What does that mean? Honestly, I finished the book and I'm still not sure.

I was so beyond excited when I was approved for this ARC and I spent the entire read so utterly confused yet so captivated. The world Jackson has built is a not so unrealistic view at the future of the US. Xandria, our FMC, was vulnerable and authentic throughout the whole story and truly what kept me reading through my confusion.

While set in our world, the world building as a whole was well done until we got to the last 25% or so of the book. There is a major time jump that left me reeling and I struggled to follow our new characters after barely getting a grip on the original plot and subplot of our main story.

Was I confused during this? Yes, absolutely. Would I recommend it? Honestly, yea. If you're trying to diversify your scifi reads and experience a brutally real character, then this is a good one to pick up!

DNF p176

I’m interested. I’m intrigued. But the storytelling style is hurting my head and making it hard for me to follow what exactly is happening. I may come back to this at a later time because I think it’s a fascinating story, but it’s not exactly as advertised on the tin and the unreliable narrator element is working hard to make this as confusing as read as possible.

Definitely a very complicated book & i felt confused at times, but I can chalk part of that up to slumping in the middle of it (not because of this book! because i made a LOT of art and stopped having time for reading lol) and pausing for a long time.

Xandria is the unreliablest of narrators, but the addition of different ephemera (ESPECIALLY the timeline) made things much easier to comprehend. I enjoyed the reference to Sassafras, Cypress, and Indigo which I am also trying to get my hands back on to finish!

I did feel like when I began to get truly invested in a storyline, the perspective would switch to a different time/person/civilization, which made it hard to stay engaged for long periods of time. A good debut though and the concepts are extremely solid :D

This Afrofuturist thriller follows Xandria, an archivist with a memory problem from Covid, who gets caught in a dangerous plot that will take the help of her digital assistants to survive.
I liked the pieces of futuristic ephemera scattered in the book. I liked that the AIs were given space to narrate, since that's a unique perspective to pursue. I liked how Jackson wrote and incorporated the memory loss, as heartbreaking as it was. I did not enjoy the pacing. For a thriller, this was quite slow.

The Ephemera Collector was an excellent read. I loved the character development and the writing was propulsive.

I could not finish this book. It was well-written and I appreciate what the author was trying to do, but it was fairly incoherent, to me.

I wish I had read this months ago when it seemed like an unlikely future. Now it is far too real. I had to take breaks. I love Afrofuturism.
Thank you for this book!

The Ephemera Collector introduces Stacy Nathanial Jackson as an exciting new voice in Afrofuturism, who lyrical prose shines in this ambitious first novel. Jackson's creates a rich and vibrant world with characters that are easy to become invested in, yet the structure of the novel was often confusing and made this an often frustrating read.

The book is anchored by Xandria, an archivist in the near future whose work on Octavia Butler's archives and the "Diwata Collection" are complicated by long term health issues and memory problems caused by Covid19 and Covid34 (horrifying). The first two third of the novel focus on Xandria herself, as she and her assistive bots are trapped in her office by unexpected lockdown. Xandria's personal and family history are woven together with the ongoing events in a narrative that is as much about loss and personal identity as it is a critique of corporate take overs and the ever-growing role of AI. Following the many voices and plot lines is at times tricky, but by the end of the section I felt I had a good grasp on what was going on and had become invested. However, just as I was reaching that point the story pivoted, and the final third of the book focuses on the underwater climate refuge of Diwata, the society Xandria is collecting ephemera from, despite the fact that it does not yet exist.

My overall takeaway is that his section of the book may have worked better as a separate book in the same series, as it felt almost entirely disconnected from the earlier 2/3 of the book. While the woven timelines and narrative lines buildup Xandria’s story, they are more confusing than anything else here, and it often felt that necessary context was missing. Ultimately, I came away from the read frustrated; there is a strong premise that I so wanted to love, but in the end I struggled through the novel.

2-2.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley, Liveright and the author for the eARC in exchange for honest review.

I was super excited to read this book! But as I was reading this I was struggling to read this book! The writing style is literally different and it’s definitely something I’m not used to! I don’t know if the format will change for the final proof but it was confusing as to which POV’s was talking or following! With that being said I’m just lightly DNFing the book and will pick it up throughout the year because I seriously see the potential in it! It’s just a struggle to get through! So for right now my rating for the book will be at a 3 because of the concept and plot of the book! Those are strong points of this book! And I’ll hold off reviewing it on Goodreads until I finish! Otherwise than that, good job on this different piece of work!

In this epic Afrofuturist debut, an archivist finds herself the target of a violent plot and must rely on the help of her AI assistive technologies.

In near-future Los Angeles, Xandria Brown works diligently as an archivist at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Descended from a family of obsessive collectors who took part in the Great Migration, Xandria has always been passionate about the art of curation and preservation, especially of seemingly useless African American ephemera. But while juggling multiple projects, her neurocognitive symptoms of long COVID are worsening, as her healthbot keeps having to remind her. When the Huntington unexpectedly goes into lockdown, Xandria must rely on her adaptive technology and her own flickering intuition to preserve her life’s work—the Diwata Collection. A strikingly original saga written in lyrical prose, The Ephemera Collector announces Stacy Nathaniel Jackson as a singular new voice in fiction.

About the Author: Stacy Nathaniel Jackson is a trans poet, playwright, and visual artist whose work has appeared in Electric Literature, Georgia Review, and New American Writing, among other publications.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines ephemera as "things that are important or used for only a short period of time." This debut is aptly named. The ephemera that Xandria curates reads like a list of forgotten or underappreciated treasures that readers should source for themselves. As such, I can see this story being great for a reading group-it will generate lots of discussion and activities. I will offer a caution and suggest for adult readers, as there is some open-door spice that may be unsuitable for younger readers. That said, I appreciated that the FMC was in her forties and a Black woman-as a Black woman in my forties, I too, have developed into the archivist of my family, as have many of my peers. Add this debut to your lists on Black speculative fiction: I have.

This book is a work of art, and a lot of it went over my head. I definitely need to get a physical version of this book when I can so I can fully enjoy it. The amount I was able to read on my ereader was fascinating. The actual computers have genuine conversations, the stylistic choice is also really neat, and the cover of this book is also very cool. This book is really intriguing and I’m excited to buy it when I am able to to get the full experience.

Thank you so much for allowing me an eARC of this book! This is my honest feedback I am leaving voluntarily. I heavily recommend this one - it’s really cool.

3.5 stars.

I was hooked!

A very near-futuristic California setting that took climate change and pandemics to heart. A successful, career-oriented Black woman protagonist who's suffering from the effects of long covid. And AI bots with varying levels of autonomy.

I liked this novel for its portrayal of a realistic future, and I really liked how the FMC, Xandria, was such a raw and vulnerable character. The mixed media format, with bits and pieces of artwork included, really added to Xandria's character development as an archivist and activist working at the Huntington Museum. Her personality reminded me of Zelu in Nnedi Okorafor's Death of the Author. Both are stubborn, yet driven in the face of adversity. (And by adversity, I mean racism and misogyny.)

There was also a psychological thriller subplot that I was a huge fan of. I thought it was really well done because as the reader, you were almost as lost as Xandria, except you were given hints so you knew beforehand that the situation was even worse than Xandria suspected.

While I loved the worldbuilding and character building, the time jump into the far, far future really confused me. And I'm saying this as someone who loves futuristic space science fantasy.

The story of Diwata literally spanned millennia, but its beginning as a Black Panther Party-inspired organization to its evolution into an actual functioning underwater colony off the coast of California to its future as a society on the verge of collapse was really, really confusing. Especially since the narrative shifted from Xandria's POV to several Diwatan citizens' POVs after a certain point in the book.

It felt like this came out of nowhere, so I couldn't really connect to this new set of characters or their situations. I think it'd be better if they were Xandria's descendants or something along those lines. It read like two interconnected novellas.

Anyway, I'd still recommend this novel if you're into sci-fi, especially if you're looking to diversify your reading. I'd definitely read more from Stacy Nathaniel Jackson!

Thank you to Liveright and NetGalley for this arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! This book will be published in the US on April 1, 2025 by Liveright / WW Norton.

FULL RATING: 2.75 stars rounded up

There’s so much to admire in The Ephemera Collector—its intricate worldbuilding, its incisive critique of corporate control over historical narratives, and its deeply felt exploration of disability and bodily autonomy. Stacy Nathaniel Jackson crafts a story that is both intensely personal and expansively political, weaving together the life of Xandria Brown, a 23rd-century archivist battling long COVID, with the fate of a separatist underwater city. Yet, despite the novel’s ambitious scope and compelling themes, its execution left me frustrated.

Xandria has spent her life working to preserve marginalized histories, most recently the Diwata Collection—ephemera from a climate separatist community in Monterey Canyon. But when the massive corporation WIKA acquires the Huntington Library, her work becomes threatened by profit-driven motives. As she spearheads the #BlackoutWIKA resistance campaign, an attack on the building leaves her trapped inside, shifting the novel’s focus to the efforts of her AI support bots to save her. This introduces a second narrative thread: a deep dive into Xandria’s fragmented memories, caused by Long COVID inflammation, leading to a mid-novel exploration of her family history and the systemic forces that shaped her lineage. Eventually, the book closes with a long section from the perspective of Diwatan citizens, reflecting on their revolutionary project and the artifacts Xandria has been archiving.

While the novel’s thematic richness is undeniable, its structure felt unwieldy. The perspective shifts—particularly those involving Xandria’s support bots—were often difficult to track, making it challenging to stay grounded in the narrative. The attack on WIKA and the exploration of Diwata’s history felt like two entirely separate books, with Xandria’s personal struggles acting as a bridge that wasn’t quite strong enough to hold them together. The most frustrating aspect was how major plot threads—Xandria’s health, memory distortions, and the corporate interference with her work—were introduced with weighty significance, only to be dropped, then abruptly revisited before being sidelined again.

I wanted to love this book. Its vision of resistance, its commitment to interrogating who controls history, and its nuanced depiction of disability all resonated deeply. But the scattered execution ultimately made it difficult to fully connect. With more structural tightening, The Ephemera Collector could have been a powerhouse. As it stands, it’s an ambitious novel that doesn’t quite cohere.

📖 Read this if you love: speculative fiction that interrogates corporate overreach, radical disability justice, and archival resistance; books by Octavia Butler or Rivers Solomon.

🔑 Key Themes: Memory and Autonomy, The Commodification of History, Environmental Collapse and Resistance, Technology and Surveillance, Disability and Care.

Content / Trigger Warnings: Death of a Parent (minor), Grief (minor), Sexual Harassment (minor), Medical Content (severe), Racism (minor), Bullying (minor), Sexual Content (minor), Animal Death (minor).

_The Ephemera Collector_ by Stacy Nathaniel Jackson is an evocative Afrofuturism book perfect for readers of the genre. Xandria Brown lives in Los Angeles in the near-future and works as an archivist preserving African American ephemera. She suffers from long COVID symptoms while working on the Diwata Collection, fighting to preserve the materials and her own memories. Jackson’s writing is lyrical and thought-provoking, and delves into contemporary issues such as race and the environment. A beautiful read from a debut author.

This is definitely a futuristic and original plot! I was drawn to the synopsis immediately. I appreciated and enjoyed reading about the AI robots, and the Covid-19 after effects were very relatable. This is not a genre that I read often, so a lot of it was way over my head, I found myself looking up a lot of terms and phrases that I didn't know. I will say that this book definitely educated me on the possible future of AI, Diwata, ephemera and also space. Kudos to the author on this enlightening and original read! Thank you Net Galley for the ARC!

Fascinating for many reasons, this is a MUST READ for anyone interested in Afrofuturism, the future of our planet, environmental justice, racial inequality, or libraries and archives. All fantastic subjects! Xandria Brown is an archivist in the near future, with her major project being the Diwata Collection. The format of the book is all you can ask for and more from a book about ephemera. Loved, loved, loved the format.

Stacy Nathaniel Jackson is a gifted author, with a great sense of story and the ability to share that story lyrically. I need more from this author! Most of the book was embedded with a sense of understanding of the feelings the characters were experiencing. It could be read in the air.

This is a great imagination of a possible future, but more so it’s commentary on race, justice, and the environment. The technology of the future included in the book was fascinating to picture. The living situations and working conditions were also really interesting. But the real substance was in addressing the much more serious themes involved. Thank you to NetGalley and to Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton and Company, for the advance copy of this compelling novel.

The Ephemera Collector by Stacy Nathaniel Jackson is a poignant and lyrical exploration of memory, identity, and the fragments of life that shape us. Through beautifully crafted prose and poetic storytelling, Jackson weaves a narrative that bridges personal reflection and universal themes. Each chapter feels like a carefully curated piece of history, urging readers to consider the significance of what we choose to hold onto and what we let go. A profound and moving work of art.